USA: Supreme Court hears first case about GE risks

The US Supreme Court decided to hear a first-time case about the risks of genetically engineered crops. Named Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, the case before the high court will be another step in an ongoing battle waged by the Center for Food Safety to protect consumers and the environment from potentially harmful effects of GE crops.The modified alfalfa seed at the heart of the dispute has been engineered to be immune to Monsanto’s flagship herbicide Roundup.

This is truly a „David versus Goliath“ struggle, between public interest non-profits and a corporation bent on the domination of the food system, Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, states. He continues that Monsanto has pushed this case all the way to the Supreme Court, even though USDA’s court-ordered analysis is now complete, and the US government actively opposed further litigation in this matter, which underscores the great lengths that Monsanto will go to further its mission of patent control of the food system and selling more pesticides.

Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the USA and a key source of dairy forage. It is the first perennial crop to be genetically engineered and open-pollinated by bees, which can cross-pollinate at distances of several miles, spreading the patented, foreign DNA to conventional and organic crops. Such biological contamination threatens the livelihood of organic farmers and dairies, since the U.S. Organic standard prohibits genetic engineering, and alfalfa exporters, since most overseas governments also reject GE-contaminated crops, according to the Center of Food Safety.

Center of Food Safety